Four Furs in Search of an Exit
by firefox b
Summary: A loose translation to animal characters of the classic Twilight Zone story, "Five Characters in Search of an Exit."


The fox came to in a place that was nothing like his forest home. He arose to his feet, and saw that he was in a spacious but stark place, a bare landscape brown in color and devoid of vegetation or indeed any markers that might identify place or location. High above him, there was bright illumination but neither the forest canopy nor the clear blue sky greeted his gaze. There was only light, and of an unnatural quality that did not exist in nature. The fox's keen instincts shuddered at this strange and foreboding place. Instinctively the fox checked his possessions on hand, and he felt reassured by the presence of a bow and quiver with arrows on his back, something that he sensed that he knew how to use well and with deadly accuracy. The fox adjusted his green tunic and the feathered cap on his head, and decided to look about. Perhaps he would find others, or an escape from this unnatural area.

Advancing, the fox soon came upon a bear, but he did not fit an arrow to his bow. He sensed no menace from the creature, but rather took an immediate liking to him together with a strange desire to be close to and hug him.- -Was he gay, wondered the fox?- -No, his memory brought impressions of an alluring vixen to whom he was attracted. Cautiously and from a distance, the fox hailed the bear. "Hello, my good fellow!," the fox cried aloud in greeting. "Halt, and identify yourself!"

The bear shuffled agreeably to a stop. "Hello yourself!," he replied in a genial fashion. "I believe that I am called, 'Teddy,' he replied, extending a paw to the fox. "Might you know where we are? I seem to have lost my way!"

The fox nodded to the bear. "As I have myself," he said. "I know only that I awoke here, and that we seem to be in some kind of prison! I sense that I am some kind of outlaw named 'Robin,' but why are you here?," he asked.

The bear shrugged, and was about to express his confusion when a red bird smacked into him. "Excuse me," apologized the bird, who appeared both angry and agitated. "I didn't mean to be rude or clumsy, but my eggs have been stolen by pigs! If I am propelled by a slingshot, I can fling myself at the pigs, bring down their fortifications, and regain my unborn young confiscated for some kind of unspeakable feast! Can you help me find my eggs, or perhaps a slingshot?"

The fox's eyes took on a distant and knowing gaze, for he understood and deeply despised injustice. "I shall help you in your quest," assured the fox, "but first we must escape the captivity in which we all find ourselves! Seeking freedom and fighting injustice was somehow what he was all about, thought the fox; perhaps in time, he would remember his full purpose.

"But how can we escape?," worried the bear. "There are only three of us!"

"No," countered a voice, "there are four of us!" With that, a pale blue pony walked into view of the others, its mane and tail harmonizing rainbow colors.

"What the frack are you?," asked the red bird.

"I'm some kind of earth pony," said the blue equine. "If we all work together, perhaps we can get out of here!," he declared with quiet determination.

"Indeed we can!," agreed the fox, his leadership skills kicking in. "If we each stand upon the shoulders of another, our combined height might enable us to reach the uppermost edge of whatever confines us so that we can see what lies beyond, and then the one uppermost can crawl over and send help!"

Inspired, the four figures then formed an unlikely ladder against the wall of their strange habitation. With his broad back, the blue pony anchored the chain. The bear stood on the back of the pony, and on his back in turn the fox positioned himself. Reaching upwards as high as he could, the fox then held aloft the red bird in his paws.

"Can you see anything, red bird?," asked the fox urgently.

The bird while close to the upper edge of the brown wall couldn't quite see above it. "If you all just stretch a little further, maybe I then could see over this wall!," he urged.

Groaning, the three lower figures stretched their aching bodies to their utmost, managing to extend the red bird a few inches higher. "Yes!-That's it!," he exulted. "I can just see over the edge!- -Why, it's..."

The blue pony at the bottom of the ladder groaned. "I can't hold you any longer!," he cried. "You're too heavy! My legs are giving way!" Despite his heroic efforts, the blue pony collapsed, sending the fox and bear tumbling to the ground. As they fell, the red bird slipped from the fox's grasp, falling over the edge of the wall to its other side.

The red bird had a momentary sensation of flight. "Yes!-I can see!-And I'm flying!," he cried. The red bird's trajectory was downwards, however, and he crashed to the ground at the same moment that the fox, bear, and pony fell to the bottom of the brown prison...

...the little girl saw the red plush bird lying on the floor of the Thrift Shop, and picked it up. "Look, Mommy!," she said excitedly to her mother. "I found a red bird!," the girl chattered.

Her mother smiled. "You sure did, Honey!," she responded. It looks like one of those 'Angry Birds!" The woman peered into the large cardboard box on the floor. "And look what else is in the stuffed animal and toy bin!- -There's a teddy bear, and one of those 'My Little Pony' toys, and what looks like 'Robin Hood' from the Disney cartoon film!"

The little girl reached into the corrugated cardboard box and extracted the fox. "Can I have this one, Mommy?," she asked with pleading eyes. The red bird was tossed back into the carton while the fox was carried off in the loving embrace of the child.

As the little girl and her mother walked away to the store register, the fox cried out to his compatriots in a voice that only they could hear; "Fear not! - -I'll find help, and come back and save you!"

The teddy bear, Little Pony, and Angry Bird lay inertly in the large cardboard box, prisoners in a world within a world, awaiting the time of their own uncertain liberation...


End file.
